Conventionally, in order to help improve the fuel economy of hybrid vehicles (HV), electric vehicles (EV), and the like, pneumatic tires with reduced rolling resistance have been proposed. In recent years in particular, with concern for the environment increasing, there is a demand for pneumatic tires capable of improved fuel economy.
As a means for reducing the rolling resistance of a pneumatic tire, technology of reducing the air resistance around the tire by decreasing the total width (SW) and the forward projection area of a pneumatic tire is known (see for example International Patent Publication No. WO2011/135774).
However, application of the above-described means results in a pneumatic tire with a narrow total width and thus a narrow ground contact width. To maintain a certain load capacity, the outer diameter (OD) must then be increased. As a result, the footprint length of such a pneumatic tire is made comparatively long.
While a pneumatic tire with a long footprint length has greatly improved water drainage properties (WET performance), due to the narrow ground contact width of such a tire, cornering force (CF) as well as steering stability may decrease.